Page 27 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 24
P. 27
The Environment
across all sectors where we
like to talk big scientific words
which are meaningless but
ignore real solutions because
real solutions are detrimental
to the businesses that use the
problem as their money-making
tools. For instance, instead
of fighting the root causes of
cancer, the health system has
built various mansions around
the symptoms from where it
makes money from the pain of
others.
Addressing root causes entails
working with the diversity of
or those who like to utter out through colonial economies place-based needs and available
big words in big conferences that provide profit for a few resources instead of seeking
hosted in five-star hotels, at a cost to many. Therefore, “one-size-fits-all,” centralized
the real experts are mostly real solutions to climate crisis solutions. Examining root
the natives and indigenous must be tailored to tackle root causes allows us to understand
peoples of those areas mostly systemic drivers, in addition how reducing carbon needs to be
affected by the changes. These to being demonstrated through coupled with efforts to eliminate
indigenous people and their moral practice, to work. For a toxic pollution, biodiversity
knowledge systems have lived climate justice future, we must and cultural destruction, theft
for generations in these places move beyond carbon targets and colonization of lands,
and have been witnesses to the (whether parts per million militarization and authoritarian
changes. They have knowledge or emissions percentages), governments, racialized and
that no university degree can because such targets reinforce gendered poverty and violence.
give, we just need to be humble a carbon reductionist paradigm,
enough to ask them. which has emerged from Euro- Tackling root causes requires us
centric scientific discourse, to first “scale deep,” prioritizing
The fact remains that the root globalist agendas and markets- locally-led, locally-designed
causes of climate change are based frameworks that avoid initiatives; and then “scale out”
multifaceted and inter-sectional: addressing the root causes of to facilitate trans-local networks
namely, resource extraction at a climate change. This reality of of co-liberation, before we
pace exceeding the natural limits not addressing the root causes can consider “scaling up” in a
of the earth’s systems, carried of issues in our society is spread truly democratic and impactful
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